I had typed this as a reply to someone but I continued for such a long time that I decided to make a thread about it, keep in mind that I'm only talking about the exploration part here. I absolutely love fallout new vegas, they have heavily improved on game mechanics and all the factions are really cool (especially the interraction between them) Anyways as for the post:

I completely agree with OP, and I must say I've been exploring for about 30 hours now ( also doing main quest which is now completed and doing ALOT of side missions) and I'm almost done with this game. I mean what THE HELL!?? I'm level 28 now so almost at the level cap, this still bothers me but it was the same in fallout 3 (that you would reach you level cap WAY before you were done with the game). However, I've just about explored everything, I've discovered a hundred locations out of the 125 in the game (and been through all of them) I have found 8 special weapons already. And I have completed a ton of quest for various factions and talked to alot of people. But it only took me 30 hours. I'm guessing another 10 hours and I'll have just about anything explored.

The reason I'm so surprised about this all is because I have played fallout 3 for about 300 hours (I've also lost my very first character but I'm not sure how much I played with him), on multiple characters naturally but I could spend atleast a hundred 100 (if not 150) in one single character. But in new vegas I'm just about done after 40 - 45 and I'm not really looking forward to starting over again. People say that fallout 3 was empty but I couldn't disagree more. Sure fallout new vegas is FILLED with locations, but half of them are [censored] ones (abandoned shack anyone?) and you can run through them in a few minutes if not seconds. What I miss is DC, I've spent countless hours exploring that city but in new vegas there's nothing like that. And everywhere you look there's people! I like the concept of all the factions but they have focused to much on it, I don't want to find those bloody ncr at every twist and turn. I want these gritty ruins/underground tunnels to explore every once in a while, however in new vegas there's nothing like that to be found.

There's seriously a location which is searchlight airport (or something like that) and when I found it I was really excited for something big to explore. Guess what I can't enter a SINGLE building, it really feels to me like obsidian just put all their effort into the factions and then filled the rest of the world up with these [censored] locations. And then they put all these big mountains in, which could have been filled with tons of interesting stuff instead there's the rare cave that takes 10 seconds to search through and a MAZE OF FRIGGING INVISIBLE BARRIERS [censored] EVERYWHERE!!!! The world builders have done an unbelievable slack job if you ask me. I mean fallout 3 had some [censored] locations aswell but it was SOME and it also had DC to make up for it.

The next thing I'm particularly dissapointed about is jacobstown. I love the new super mutants over the "old" ones (referring to fallout 3) in every single way. I talked to everyone in jacobstown and did every quest. How many people did I talk to? 3.... How many quests did I do? 2.... How long did it take me to do it? an hour..... I'm so dissapointed that this wasn't fleshed out at all, they could've done so much more with this all this potential wasted. I would've liked to see much more quests and mutants to talk to. And this is not only the case in jacobstown it's the case in much more locations.

The very last thing I wanted to address is the sunset sarsaparilla factory as an example. In fallout 3 the nuka cola factory was filled with awesome and unique stuff! Nukalurks and a bunch of backgroundstory and history. In new vegas the sunset sarsaparilla factory was bland, had barely any backgroundstory and had a very hard locked door with literally nothing behind it except for some 10mm rounds. I take the sunset sarsaparilla factory as an example here because this is the case throughout the whole of fallout new vegas, in fallout 3 a big reason for me to go exploring was to find this unique stuff like nukalurks. In new vegas there doesn't seem to be any at least not in the 100 out of 125 locations I've discovered. Another example is a crashed vertibird somewhere in the wasteland with a prototype tesla cannons next to it (spoiler? well it's too late now) There was absolutely NO information about this whatsoever, just the cannon, the vertibird and some skeletons. I was spyched at finding the cannon but rather dissapointed afterwards. I am quite dissapointed in fallout new vegas, it seems bland, unfinished and empty (not story wise though).

Sounds like you need to role-play and get some mods now.

I honestly have no idea what you, or that other OP are on, but if you think NV is more empty than FO3, you're both blind.

There are 3 times as many quests, 5x more locations, tons more NPC and life going, and the map seems much bigger.

I am 32 hours in, level 17 and on main quest I have to meet Benny at the strip. But I have been exploring and getting weapons and crap like that while doing Khan and NCR faction stuff...

We seem to be at opposite ends of the spectrum here... in 30 hours you seem to have blown thru the game, and me in about the same time seems to have alot more left to do. I know I have at least another 30-60 hours left with this play through and thats more than enough than I expected with the game.. especially with me wanting to make another character to play thru hardcoe mode for the trophy.

There's alot more quests but 3/4 of these are 10 minute quests that require you to go fetch some items (like in way too many other games) in fallout 3 there were only 30 quests but they were HUGE it could easily take up to an hour - 2 hours to complete them. Take as an example reilley's rangers, that was such a huge quest with (in my opinion) alot of immersion and a really cool reward afterwards (beside all the loot you had an option between a special minigun or a special combat armor which gave you extra ap and some special boost). In new vegas most quests are really short, bland, cheap game filling and give a lame here have some caps reward. And the actual interesting quests are mostly story ones. I'd argue that all the small quests in new vegas wouldn't take up 3/4 of the time you'd spend on all the big quests in fallout 3. And then there's the main quest also ( which was actually really bland in comparison to the immersive but confusing main quest in new vegas) All in all obsidian are great writers but they are really bad at world building and quest design. It's a bit harsh to say and over-exaggerated definitely but it's the impression they left on me after new vegas.

I agree with both parties here, however, "Swish Lizard" you can't use the 5x more locations as an argument, Solid does have a good point, there are a LOT of places to discover that are just completely irrelevant. It does seem like Bethesda just threw those in there.

Yes, I completely agree with you OP, and I know of other people who do too. I spent over 300 hours over the course of 8 months playing Fallout 3. I'm 30 hours into New Vegas, have explored 80% of the wasteland, and can say for certain that once I finish everything in a few dozen hours or so, I will have absolutely no urge to replay it again. It's just not the same.

I find it funny how people assume that more map markers means more content. That's not it at all. I'd say a good 40-50% of the map markers are marking either a location that has no interior, a location that is outside and is basically marking an area where enemies are, or a building that's incredibly small. It's very misleading. I can't tell you how many times I've walked past a gas station, or a boarded up building, or an abandoned farm, or a hole in the ground, or a spawn point for a bunch of enemies, and was shocked to see a map marker appear for it. It's ridiculous and sadly Obsidian is succeeding in fooling the majority of members here into thinking all these map markers are actually marking something interesting, when a lot of them don't. This is especially true when people take the Explorer perk and never actually explore the new locations.

Obsidian improved on almost everything from Fallout 3. Nearly everything is better. But they failed at making the kind of world that Bethesda made, the kind of world that someone would enjoy spending hundreds of hours exploring. The world they made is standard and mostly boring, and because of this the only thing New Vegas has going for it in terms of replayability is siding with different factions thanks to the improved RPG elements, but that's not nearly as fun as exploring an awesome world.

Try exploring more. The map from the guide book lists 345 locations, 188 are primary. Not including inside New Vegas.

I have 115 fast travel locations unlocked and haven't even went to New Vegas yet.



Been playing 10 hrs a day since midnight release, Normal hardcoe.

I'm only lvl 22 ,but i've only done 22 quests. Most xp is kill or Lockpick xp. I've unlocked 11 lvls of extra perks. I have enough lead (200,000+) and shells to stock a large army.

Don't rush the main quest and there is plenty to do.

I clocked in at 48.5 hours. I have at least one more time though to see the other side of all the quests and a completely different ending. I had lots of quests left to do, some I didn't even attempt. I have three new characters in good springs waiting to be used.
Melee
gun specialist
Smart guy.

I could have easily gone over 50 hours before finishing the game. I could have clocked more time, but I read faster than the actors speak so I tend to skip a lot of dialog. I also fast travel everywhere, even if its just "right down the road" I fast travel there.

There is way more to do, and lots more time to be spent here than some of you are letting on. This game (like every game) is what you make of it.
Blow through the M.Q? your fault if the game is too short.

Heck if I had just listened to the dialog and not skipped it, I could have easily hit 50 hours, I didn't do any of the follower side quests besides Boone and some of Cass's. Left rex alone.

Man I just bought this on amazon less than 10 mins ago then I see this thread. I was hoping for 100s of hours of gameplay/immersion. Did you people take your time with the game or just rush? I'm not attacking your playstyle I'm just wondering.

I hear people talk about there being so many towns etc. but are there actually these settlements or just groups of 3 people with a house and shop. I've been on the fence for ages because I didn't think there would be anything particularly interesting apart from being more fallout, however the whole hardcoe mode,factions and how you have to specialise your character interests me.

If it's going to only be a fraction of the time spent with Fallout 3 I will be so disappointed. I know there is apparantly loads of ways to get to the finale of the game but is that a claim like the X-amount of endings to FO3 where realistically it was only one?

On a side note I heard the dialogue/writing has been improved, anyone confirm this?

1) Bethesda didn't develop this; Obsidian did. Bethesda just owns the IP now and published the game.

2) FO3 has less locations in total, and more of them were just like the locations you describe that are devoid of anything fun. At least the random locations in NV that have nothing are small and not giant boring mazes with little to no enemies with no worthwhile loot. All the "empty" locations I've been to in NV have at least 1 rare item (mostly skill books) anyway, so they aren't really irrelevant seeing as skill books (not magazines, mind you) are finite.

Almost every (if not all) marked location in Fallout 3 had something of interest around (loot, enemies, NPCs or something to explore). In FNV a fair few of the map markers have NOTHING at all and others are just multiple map markers for the same location. The fact is a large portion of FNVs map markers are redundant.

I literally just spent the last half hour just exploring the map for map markers and I came across a fair few markers that were pointless. Does a dead Brahmin with nothing but bent tin cans around it really need a map marker?

So yea.. the "FNV HAS MOAR MAP MARKURS" argument is invalid.

im on hour 81, and have just begun act 2.

people are still throwing quests at me.

maybe your copy was half corrupted?

I got 48.5 hours, I skipped dialog, left quests unfinished, left places unexplored. Could have easily got over 50 hours.



At least 4 different paths.
Side with
House
NCR
C.L
Your self.

Also, depending on what you do where, affects what the ending slides say.





Dialog is better, I have also noticed a few typos in the subtitle.

YMMV, but I think the game is way better than FO-3.

It would take you 20+ hours just to walk to every location on the map, let alone talk and participate in any quests of killing anything. Are you collecting stuff and taking it back to a storage area to sell or recycle? Are you using any mods that may increase your walk speed or fast traveling to places you did not discover on your own?

Heck there is many hours of voice acting in the game, listening to all that alone should have taken a long time. Sounds to me you rushed through it and ruined the game for yourself... I expect to be around 100 hours for my first play through as I am taking everything in

I have 60 hours in and I still have not entered Vegas.

Well, all these threads about the same subject pretty much confirm that this is more like a Bioware game than a Bethesda game; detailed branching main quest and plenty of sidequests, no open-world component to speak of.

Maybe the gameplay and storyline can make up fo the lost exploration aspect, but it will no doubt hamper replay value. Good thing i've barely started FCOM modded Oblivion, and Fallout 3 with FWE+MMM+WMK+EVE is still one of the best games i've played

Its 200 years after the war. Did you REALLY think people are just going to leave easy to find and much needed supply's laying around?

Yes, it does. Mostly because three of those are related to a quest!





Plenty of open world, I do not see how you miss that. You can go do anything you want at anytime you want anywhere you want.
You can ignore the M.Q, or do it and nothing else. You can just wonder around doing nothing if you want.

I used to play FO-3 with those mods, N.V is better if you ask me.

One of the achievements is discover 125 locations so I assumed that was the total amount of locations, someone said that the guide books lists 345 locations and 188 of which are primary. That is untrue I have explored about 60 - 70% of the map now (just walking around and going to every emptry triangle I see) and I have around a 100 locations. Maybe 30 of which are primary (at least what I'd consider primary).

I'll explain my playstyle:

I don't rush through the game at all, that is not how I played fallout 3 and it is not how I play fallout new vegas but seeing that I'm a fallout 3 veteran (sort of) I do know 90% of game mechanics. The first ten hours I spent learning the few new game mechanics and learning the setting. I don't skip dialogue, except for when I want to trade then I always skip the usual "sure here's what I got" or something like that but if someone actually has to say something I don't skip it. Also by exploring I mean looking in every single corner and crevice and looking inside every single footlocker/locker/metal box/ammunition box etc.

I don't leave a building or cave or vault unless I've looked everywhere and I am positive I have everything I want. However I don't stretch everything out just to 'have played more hours'. I'm always doing something whether it'd be a quest, exploring an area or going back to town to trade and drop some stuff off. I don't aimlessly wander around looking at every side of a mountain to make sure I haven't missed anything because if there isn't one of those empty triangles there won't be anything. (especially since a dead brahmin with some very minor loot next to it already gets a location marker) Also I don't gamble or stuff like that. I've played a few games of caravan and I've played slots once but that's it, in my opinion the gambling is a useless and stupid addition to the game but that's not what I'm talking about here. Also I'm coming across as very negative about new vegas here, but I'm only talking about the things I don't like here. I've said it before and I'll say it once again, I absolutely love fallout new vegas and everything there is to it besides the exploration and some little things like gambling (I don't like the gambling mainly because that's my personal opinion not because it's improperly done.)

I don't have the game yet, i'm basing that on these multiple threads on this site. But what's the point of going anywhere if there's nowhere to go to? And i doubt that second one, what i've heard of the hardcoe mode it sounds pretty casual to me compared to FWE, i guess i'll find out if i get my copy sometime :swear:

I'd also quickly like to say that, I am not actually done yet. It's just that after about 35 hours of playing now I had barely anything left to do besides 20 or so repetetive quests like: hurr durr we need supplies so badly please go there and get some for us hurr durr. And I still have a handful of locations to discover. Also has anyone noticed (how could you not notice?) the huge parts of the map that are completely cut off and where you can't seem to go? What's the deal with that? Why even add it if it's sole purpose is making the map look bigger.

31 hours into the game....

level 28
8 put of 50 achievements

...and I still haven't set foot on the Strip.

If yo rush through the game, stop complaining that it is too short.

Clearly you haven't read my post.

It does feel empty and initially I could not figure out why, I mean there are a lot of locations, plenty to explore, but there are two outstanding things in my opinoin that account for the emptyness, first is the lack of content in locations, for example I found an air field complete with tower and lobby, but they are just facades, you cannot enter them, I've found this in a lot of locations, the other is a lack of interesting characters, like Moira in FO3 for example, she was marmite, you either loved or hated her but you never forgot her, as I type this I'm trying to think of a character in F:NV that stands out, I cannot, they are all quite bland, don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying the game, but it lacks character both in the world and in the people, New Vegas was certainly a dissapointment to me, too many loading doors and very little in the way of what is "supposed" to be a thriving city.

On a plus, it is nice that the companions are a little more on a personal level.

I was a little amused that they used map markers for those silly little alcoves in the cliff walls to mark "wolf dens" and crap. THAT is a useless marker.

So far I have no complaints on the time. Im currently doing the crazy stuff on the strip that has like several quests tied to and spawning more quests in the same quest. Im assuming im close to the end of the main quest now.

The more I began to just explore around this world though, the more it felt bigger to me over the DC wastelands. I think the OP and others are right on different points here. But overall Id say im still pretty happy with this game.

Ive played 30-40 hours and have only a few main quest missions. I just meet Benny at the strip. Im not rushing anything. Im walking most places in hopes of random encounters.